Thrill Kill
Encyclopedia
Thrill Kill is a cancelled and unpublished 1998
fighting
video game for the Sony
PlayStation
. While the technical feat of allowing four players to fight simultaneously in the same room was to be a major selling point, this was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the game's depictions of violence and sexual content. Examples of this content include BDSM
and fetishistic
costumes and acts, limb dismemberment
, and violent special moves with names like "Bitch Slap" and "Swallow This".
As it was essentially completed before it was cancelled and its code leaked onto the internet, it is one of the most widely available and easily playable unreleased games ever made. Discs and downloads containing near-final versions of the game are easy to obtain via the internet and are playable on PlayStation
emulators and modded consoles.
PlayStation
by Paradox Development
, now Midway Studios - Los Angeles. There was much hype surrounding the game, billed as the new Mortal Kombat, and expectations were high in the gaming community. The original publisher
was to be Virgin Interactive
, which was acquired by Electronic Arts Pacific for £122,500,000 in the late summer of 1998.
By this point Thrill Kill had already finished development in entirety, and a Californian-based industrial
band, Contagion, had even recorded numerous songs and an entire score for the game(which later ended up on their album "Infectant"). A few weeks before shipping, the game was cancelled by EA because they didn't want to "publish such a senselessly violent game", as they felt that it would harm their image. They also stated that they deemed the game so offensive that they would not even attempt to sell the game to be released by another publisher either.
Later, former employees that had worked on the game released the full game onto the internet, along with various beta versions, and bootleg
s of the game flooded the market and were still seen by a large share of its original intended audience nevertheless. All files are still widely available through filesharing, and playable through emulators.
Gameplay
consisted of a closed 3D
room where up to four opponents would fight to the death, and proceed to finish each other off with Thrill Kills, much like the fatalities
of Mortal Kombat
. Every attack made will result in a character's bloodlust to rise. Instead of the usual life bar, characters build up a "kill meter". Once this meter was full, and therefore bloodlust at its strongest, a player's character would be electrocuted to give them superhuman strength enabling a Thrill Kill move to brutally slay an opponent, depending on what button was pressed upon grabbing someone.
. Each character is battling for nothing more than self-preservation and the hope of being reborn.
and librarian
from Savannah, Georgia
, who, after discovering that her husband was having an affair with her sister, snapped and transformed into a deadly dominatrix
, murdering them both. She is armed with an electric cattle prod
. She died after committing suicide
by electrocuting herself with her cattle prod while taking a bath, which was reported as being "accidental". She is the most sexually themed character of the game, and, consequentially, was considerably altered in the censored version; her orgasm-like moans were replaced with Violet's giggle, and her third Thrill Kill was removed, in which she appears to perform oral sex
on her opponent, only for the camera to reveal that she is merely tickling their foot with a feather. Her ending involves her preparing to murder her husband.
cannibal from Kentucky
who fights with a severed leg of one of his past victims. He starved to death after contracting a tapeworm infestation. Aside from Belladonna, he is the only other character who was noticeably changed in the censored version of the game; his taunt and win pose, in which he bites into the severed leg he carries, was replaced from having blood spraying out of it and the sound effect of ripping flesh to him saying "yummy", with the blood and sound effect removed. In his ending, his slaughterhouse receives a bad review by the health inspector. Cleetus throws the inspector into a machine which tears him to pieces.
, who intentionally disfigured many of his patients. He is armed with a scalpel
and has a set of metal "jaws" attached to his own face that resembles a bear trap, which he also uses to attack with. He died from an infection caused by the grafting of said contraption onto his face. His ending, he continues doing his disfigured and/or murder on his patients.
government employee with a Napoleon complex
from Albany, New York
, who is supported by stilts
. He died from complications after amputating both his legs to replace them with the stilts. His ending is that he dreams of being President.
from Covington, Indiana
, nicknamed "Mammoth" due to his large size. After he was fired from his job, he flew into a rage and killed many of his colleagues and customers in a bloody rampage. He died from committing suicide afterwards by shooting himself. His history may be a reference to the term 'Going Postal', which was a term derived from a series of incidents from 1983 onward in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public in acts of mass murder. The ending he kills an old lady and her dog and stuff their corpse in the mail box.
, who, after a long time of tracking serial killers, was driven insane and became one himself. His costumes feature him bound in straitjacket
s, having his arms tied behind his back, or with them amputated altogether, and so he relies on using his head, torso and legs to attack. He died after being gunned down by his protégé. His ending is he continues his insanity and he ends back to the criminally insane.
judge
from Phoenix, Arizona
, who is armed with a chain. He was executed on the electric chair
after being found guilty of acquitting criminals in his court so that he could secretly torture and murder them himself. His ending is where he continues killing criminals.
, who developed a hatred for men
after killing a man that attacked her in her dressing room after one of her performances. She died from internal injuries after her spinal cord
was ruptured. Her ending is during her performing, a man gets on stage and she kills him in front of everyone.
at the sternum, without any legs. One of them simply "walks" on their hands while the other fights. Probable cause of death could be complications from their deformity. His ending is where he's reborn and his mother died. They resemble Ken and Ryu from the Street Fighter series.
ic female deity from a dimension in Hell
who was responsible for the organization of the tournament. She cannot be played in Arcade mode.
(released on October 31, 1999 by Activision
) a game based on the rap group Wu-Tang Clan
. While violent, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style had less objectionable content than Thrill Kill, and was poorly received. The Thrill Kill engine was later used in two-player form for X-Men: Mutant Academy
(released on July 11, 2000 by Activision), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2
(released on September 17, 2001 by Activision) and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena
(released on November 30, 2000 by Mattel
).
In 2009, GameInformer ranked Thrill Kill tenth on a list of "The Top Ten Games That Almost Were."
1998 in video gaming
-Events:*Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to the AIAS Hall of Fame*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 1st annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards...
fighting
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
video game for the Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
. While the technical feat of allowing four players to fight simultaneously in the same room was to be a major selling point, this was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the game's depictions of violence and sexual content. Examples of this content include BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
and fetishistic
Fetish fashion
Fetish fashion is any style or appearance in the form of atype of clothing or accessory, created to be extreme or provocative. These styles are not usually worn by the majority of people on any regular basis. They are usually made of materials such as leather, latex or synthetic rubber or plastic,...
costumes and acts, limb dismemberment
Dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism...
, and violent special moves with names like "Bitch Slap" and "Swallow This".
As it was essentially completed before it was cancelled and its code leaked onto the internet, it is one of the most widely available and easily playable unreleased games ever made. Discs and downloads containing near-final versions of the game are easy to obtain via the internet and are playable on PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
emulators and modded consoles.
History and controversy
Thrill Kill was developed in the late 1990s for the SonySony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
by Paradox Development
Paradox Development
Midway Studios - Los Angeles Inc. was an American-based video game developer. They are best known for fighting games such as the X-Men Mutant Academy and Backyard Wrestling franchises, as well as the Mortal Kombat action game spin-off Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The team was also responsible for...
, now Midway Studios - Los Angeles. There was much hype surrounding the game, billed as the new Mortal Kombat, and expectations were high in the gaming community. The original publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
was to be Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group...
, which was acquired by Electronic Arts Pacific for £122,500,000 in the late summer of 1998.
By this point Thrill Kill had already finished development in entirety, and a Californian-based industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
band, Contagion, had even recorded numerous songs and an entire score for the game(which later ended up on their album "Infectant"). A few weeks before shipping, the game was cancelled by EA because they didn't want to "publish such a senselessly violent game", as they felt that it would harm their image. They also stated that they deemed the game so offensive that they would not even attempt to sell the game to be released by another publisher either.
Later, former employees that had worked on the game released the full game onto the internet, along with various beta versions, and bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
s of the game flooded the market and were still seen by a large share of its original intended audience nevertheless. All files are still widely available through filesharing, and playable through emulators.
Gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
consisted of a closed 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
room where up to four opponents would fight to the death, and proceed to finish each other off with Thrill Kills, much like the fatalities
Fatality (Mortal Kombat)
In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a finishing move that can be used against one's defeated opponent at the end of the final match, after the boss character says "Finish Him/Her." The Fatalities are usually lethal, featuring a brutal and morbid execution of the defenseless...
of Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat (series)
Mortal Kombat, commonly abbreviated MK, is a science fantasy series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The first four renditions and their updates were developed by Midway Games and initially released on arcade machines. The arcade titles were later picked up by Acclaim...
. Every attack made will result in a character's bloodlust to rise. Instead of the usual life bar, characters build up a "kill meter". Once this meter was full, and therefore bloodlust at its strongest, a player's character would be electrocuted to give them superhuman strength enabling a Thrill Kill move to brutally slay an opponent, depending on what button was pressed upon grabbing someone.
Plot
Ten damned souls have died and descended into Hell. This modern-day Hell is based on the real world of today's deviants. The characters are the physical manifestations of their mental illnesses or the evil hidden within their mortal selves. Each character has been a murderer, usually after their said illness/evil inner self Marukka, the Goddess of Secrets, is bored of her usual routine and decides that it would be entertaining to pit all of the characters against one another in a fighting tournament with the prize being reincarnationReincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
. Each character is battling for nothing more than self-preservation and the hope of being reborn.
Belladonna
A housewifeHousewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
and librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
from Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, who, after discovering that her husband was having an affair with her sister, snapped and transformed into a deadly dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
, murdering them both. She is armed with an electric cattle prod
Cattle prod
A cattle prod, also called a stock prod, is a handheld device commonly used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them, or in the case of a Hot-Shot-type prod, through a relatively high-voltage, low-current electric shock...
. She died after committing suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by electrocuting herself with her cattle prod while taking a bath, which was reported as being "accidental". She is the most sexually themed character of the game, and, consequentially, was considerably altered in the censored version; her orgasm-like moans were replaced with Violet's giggle, and her third Thrill Kill was removed, in which she appears to perform oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
on her opponent, only for the camera to reveal that she is merely tickling their foot with a feather. Her ending involves her preparing to murder her husband.
Cleetus
A murderous redneckRedneck
Redneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...
cannibal from Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
who fights with a severed leg of one of his past victims. He starved to death after contracting a tapeworm infestation. Aside from Belladonna, he is the only other character who was noticeably changed in the censored version of the game; his taunt and win pose, in which he bites into the severed leg he carries, was replaced from having blood spraying out of it and the sound effect of ripping flesh to him saying "yummy", with the blood and sound effect removed. In his ending, his slaughterhouse receives a bad review by the health inspector. Cleetus throws the inspector into a machine which tears him to pieces.
Dr. Faustus
A deranged plastic surgeon from Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, who intentionally disfigured many of his patients. He is armed with a scalpel
Scalpel
A scalpel, or lancet, is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, and various arts and crafts . Scalpels may be single-use disposable or re-usable. Re-usable scalpels can have attached, resharpenable blades or, more commonly, non-attached, replaceable...
and has a set of metal "jaws" attached to his own face that resembles a bear trap, which he also uses to attack with. He died from an infection caused by the grafting of said contraption onto his face. His ending, he continues doing his disfigured and/or murder on his patients.
The Imp
A violent midgetMidget
A midget is a short person with relatively average bodily proportions in comparison with other human beings. The term is often improperly used to describe a person with the medical condition dwarfism. The two terms are often used synonymously because both terms originate as words defining small...
government employee with a Napoleon complex
Napoleon complex
Napoleon complex is an informal term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people, especially men, who are short in stature. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of...
from Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, who is supported by stilts
Stilts
Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a person or structure to stand at a distance above the ground. Walking stilts are poles equipped with steps for the feet to stand on, or straps to attach them to the legs, for the purpose of walking while elevated above a normal height...
. He died from complications after amputating both his legs to replace them with the stilts. His ending is that he dreams of being President.
Mammoth
A gigantic, feral, ape-like creature who was previously a human postal workerPostal worker
A postal worker is one who works for a post office, such as a mail carrier. In the U.S., postal workers are represented by the and the American Postal Workers Union, part of the AFL-CIO. In Canada, they are represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and in the United Kingdom by the...
from Covington, Indiana
Covington, Indiana
Covington is a city located on the western edge of Fountain County, Indiana. The population was 2,645 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Fountain County.-Geography:Covington is located at ....
, nicknamed "Mammoth" due to his large size. After he was fired from his job, he flew into a rage and killed many of his colleagues and customers in a bloody rampage. He died from committing suicide afterwards by shooting himself. His history may be a reference to the term 'Going Postal', which was a term derived from a series of incidents from 1983 onward in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public in acts of mass murder. The ending he kills an old lady and her dog and stuff their corpse in the mail box.
Oddball
An FBI criminal profiler from Belfast, MaineBelfast, Maine
Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,668. Located at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River on Penobscot Bay, Belfast is the county seat of Waldo County...
, who, after a long time of tracking serial killers, was driven insane and became one himself. His costumes feature him bound in straitjacket
Straitjacket
A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...
s, having his arms tied behind his back, or with them amputated altogether, and so he relies on using his head, torso and legs to attack. He died after being gunned down by his protégé. His ending is he continues his insanity and he ends back to the criminally insane.
Tormentor
A sadistic vigilanteVigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
from Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, who is armed with a chain. He was executed on the electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
after being found guilty of acquitting criminals in his court so that he could secretly torture and murder them himself. His ending is where he continues killing criminals.
Violet
The youngest playable character in the game. A teenage traveling circus contortionist from AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, who developed a hatred for men
Misandry
Misandry is the hatred or dislike of men or boys.Misandry comes from Greek misos and anēr, andros . Misandry is the antonym of philandry, the fondness towards men, love, or admiration of them...
after killing a man that attacked her in her dressing room after one of her performances. She died from internal injuries after her spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
was ruptured. Her ending is during her performing, a man gets on stage and she kills him in front of everyone.
The Gimp
Unlockable "training dummy" only available in Practice mode. He is unlocked by successfully following all the instructions to execute moves in training mode for all characters. Like his name suggests, he is a masochistic gimp. He is unplayable.Cain
One of the earlier unlockable sub-bosses. A pyromaniac covered in flames, who has the ability to conjure fire. Probable death could be that Cain died by being burned down while he was still alive. His ending is he sets himself on fire again.Judas
One of the later unlockable sub-bosses. Deformed conjoined twinsConjoined twins
Conjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of...
at the sternum, without any legs. One of them simply "walks" on their hands while the other fights. Probable cause of death could be complications from their deformity. His ending is where he's reborn and his mother died. They resemble Ken and Ryu from the Street Fighter series.
Marukka
The final unlockable character and final boss of the game in one player mode. A demonDemon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
ic female deity from a dimension in Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
who was responsible for the organization of the tournament. She cannot be played in Arcade mode.
Reception
The controversy surrounding the game raised the interest of Thrill Kill in the gaming community greatly, helping bootleg copies of the game to become very common. In their September 2004 issue, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine cited Thrill Kill as one of the most overrated cancelled games, stating "It got lots of hype. But it really sucked, too."Legacy
The Thrill Kill engine was later used in numerous other games. It was used to make Wu-Tang: Shaolin StyleWu-Tang: Shaolin Style
Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style - aka Wu-Tang: Taste the Pain in PAL regions - is a four-player, 3D fighting game for the PlayStation. The basis for the game's story and setting is the real-life rap group the Wu-Tang Clan, featuring characters based on their stage personas and the martial arts themes of...
(released on October 31, 1999 by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
) a game based on the rap group Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...
. While violent, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style had less objectionable content than Thrill Kill, and was poorly received. The Thrill Kill engine was later used in two-player form for X-Men: Mutant Academy
X-Men: Mutant Academy
X-Men: Mutant Academy is a 3-D/2D fighting game developed by Paradox, the company behind Activision's Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style and the never-published Thrill Kill, and based on X-Men characters, from Marvel Comics...
(released on July 11, 2000 by Activision), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2
X-Men: Mutant Academy 2
X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 is a PlayStation video game, the sequel to X-Men: Mutant Academy. Both feature the X-Men in a 3-D fighting arena similar to Mortal Kombat 4. Like its predecessor, the game allows the player to select from several heroes and villains and includes many of the signature moves...
(released on September 17, 2001 by Activision) and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
Rock'em Sock'em Robots is a popular two-player action toy and game, designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and was first manufactured by Marx toy company in 1964. It features two dueling robot boxers mechanically manipulated by the players, and the game is won when one player knocks the head off...
(released on November 30, 2000 by Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
).
In 2009, GameInformer ranked Thrill Kill tenth on a list of "The Top Ten Games That Almost Were."